The FIFA World Cup is proving a huge financial boon for South Africa.

Visiting football fans to the republic have been spending up large, with car rental, hotel and hospitality industries all reaping the rewards associated with the biggest sporting event outside of the Olympics.

According to data released yesterday by Visa, which monitors cardholder spending, international visitors have spent nearly one billion South African Rand, or ZAR, equivalent to £90 million, in the first couple of weeks of the tournament.

Figures released by the card provider showed in the week before the opening ceremony and during the first ten days of games, lead week of pool play, international visitors had spent around ZAR 964 million (£90 million) on visa-branded cards. This is an increase of around 54 per cent the similar time period last year. Transactions are averaging 45,000 per day, up by 60 per cent in year-on-year comparisons, with nearly one million in total. Overall spending has risen by 81 per cent compared to 2009.

Amongst the biggest spenders were British visitors, along with those from Brazil, the United States, France and Australia. Unfortunately for the republic’s coffers, the two latter teams have packed their bags for home after being dumped out of the competition in the first round. While surprise teams such as South Korea, Mexico, Uruguay, Slovakia and Ghana may provide the best stories of the World Cup, the early exit of some of the European heavyweights is sure to dampen financial predictions. Despite this, the national tourism authority still anticipates that the event will generate up to ZAR 27 billion (£2.3 billion) for the local economy.